i had a stroke when out riding, my horse got me home safely

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sula

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Oh my goodness that`s a beautiful story of a beautiful horse in such a scary situation. I hope you make a full recovery and that Shadow continues to love and enthrall you - and us. Aww, think I must be coming down with a cold . . . nose has gone all sniffy and eyes are starting to run . . . ;)
 
starryeyed

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What a beautiful story, you really do have a superstar on your hands! Incredible what some horses will do for their owners (sadly don't think my mare would be one of them). Just incredible, must have been a terrifying experience for you xx
 
Grumpy Herbert

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The bond between horse and owner can be truly amazing. Your lad is very special, and you clearly adore him (as he does you!). I hope your health goes from strength to strength now and that you and your special boy have lots of happy hacks together.
 
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Wow!!! How amazing. My horse would gallop off home and leave me, but I know he loves me deep down. I hope you are making the best recovery. You have obviously been doing something right with Shadow. He is a very special horse.
 
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Thank you Shady for sharing this lovely story. Shadow truly is a special horse, and I wish you years more happiness with him. I hope your health continues to improve, and I look forward to further stories from you and Shadow. Photos of the hero would be lovely too!
 
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Shady

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in response to all your amazing replies, my recovery was slow but steady, i lost alot of weight and the amount of blood thinners they stuck me on to help repair the tear made me really feeble and the blindness in one eye was very challenging, i kept bumping into furniture on that side, got a lot of bruises!! obviously i couldn't ride but when i got stronger i took Shadow for walks, we mooched along the lanes, him eating grass and me trying not to fall in a ditch. it's a great bonding thing to do, there's no pressure on them to perform and i find both our horses love it. my first rides out were wobbly but i should have known Shadow would be fine and he was, ears all over the place asking me questions, we took it slow and i canter again now, i have yet to try a gallop and thank god he doesn't try to without permission. in case you all think he is 100% wonder horse i must grass him up and tell you that Shadow does not ' do ' puddles, he hates them, the devil lives in them and i promise you i have a seat like a limpet due to the swerving round them he does, i do remember thinking on some level on the journey home after the stroke 'how typical that it should rain, now there will be puddles, bl**dy great, he will go round every one' and i'm sure he did!! again i sincerely thank you all for your kind words. i have another Shadow story, perhaps i will post it soon!
 
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Shady said:
everybody here has or has had that special horse, special in that he took you where you wanted to be competitively, special in that he makes your heart sing just to look at him or you feel on top of the world just gently hacking through the woods, they are all amazing in some way.
for me, my lovely horse got me home in the middle of an unbelievable storm when i was half blind, confused and un co-ordinated after having had a stroke in the middle of no where. if you have a minute i'd love to tell you about him.
i learnt to ride late in life and was still very much a novice when i bought my first horse, everybody told me not to buy him..' you can't learn to ride on an Arab' was the general opinion of all except his owner who told me i would never find another horse like him and that he would look after me in all ways. i had my suspicions that he would be like 'that new anti- wrinkle' cream that you had such hopes for , great packaging, marketing but in the end total cr*p . his name is Shadow and yes he is grey and yes he was owned by a teenager( god love them for their naming of horses!) he was amazing from day one, gentle , calm, he viewed life like a hippy with a joint, all the world loved him and he gave it back, quads, bikes, lorries ,dogs, hunters, all could pass him by and he just floated along , heaven to ride but you had to RIDE him, not drift off, he would not just follow the horse in front.
i had had a headache for weeks after a friends horse knocked me down and i fell badly , i didn't know till later that it had made a tear in my caratoid artery and it had been bleeding into my brain slowly, typical that the one day i went further than normal was the day it finally 'got' me.
i suddenly went dizzy and blind in one eye, i was cantering slowly but fell off , i felt really confused and to make matters worse it started raining hard, i found myself lying in the rain, crying and really scared,i couldn't seem to co ordinate myself , it was awful. Shadow was next to me and i made myself get back on him but suddenly being half blind was terrible and by now thunder and lightening had joined the rain . Shadow was amazing , he just started walking slowly back the way we had come with me a useless lump on his back, it took 2 hours and he never spooked, even with lightening crashing down near us , he got me home.
i spent 2 weeks in hospital, 4 months before i was allowed to ride again and i stayed half blind in one eye and a bit more ditzy than i was before, my lovely boy continues to look after me, i think he's pretty special, perhaps you have one like him? i would love to know
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One of my friends at my livery yard has a step daughter who is gradually going blind also suffers from fainting fits which now could be a form of Epilepsy. She went hacking on her own (something she cannot do now) and half way through the ride had an episode and fell forward onto her ponies neck who is only 5 and she has only had a short while, he walked quietly home along the road which is a busy road and brought her safety back to the yard. This also happened when I was with her and both her pony and mine knew something up and after being a d*ckhead on the ride my boy quietly walked home while I rode and led them back with *R* slumped on her ponies neck.
 
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Thank you for sharing that and I just add to what everyone else has said. Hope you can continue to enjoy your riding for a long time.
 
AmieeT

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Gosh, Shady! What a wonderful story, and wonderful horse! Such a brave lad, especially in such horrific weather!!

I've just tried to read this to my Dad, and had to summarise as I got choked up and teary!! I hope you continue to recover, and that you're able to regain some vision in your eye (What have the ophthalmologists said?), and that you're able to have a gallop soon!

Please do share your other story!!

Ax
 
Cinnamontoast

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That is the most amazing horse you have, Shady! What a fabulous boy and how lovely you're back to riding. He sounds very special. :)

Mine, at the max, has jumped over me rather than stand on me when he knocked me over and always spooks away from me. :rolleyes3: He's a sod for defending me in the field by blocking other horses, not helpful! He's not a fine horse!
 
Red-1

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What a wonderful horse, you sound lucky to have each other.

My Husband's grey Charlie horse was a friend to everyone, he just had a way with him. He would save people from falling off, jump with anyone, and when you schooled him he had a way of reducing riders to tears, even big hard men. Something in the way he remained open to you, even when you made a mistake.
 
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Oh wow! :)

My Mum in french and when she was a teenager she had this little nutter of a horse - was strong and unpredictable with horrific ground manners. She was out hacking and got caught in a HUGE snow blizzard, she dropped her reins and he took her home, they had to cross two major roads to get there and back and he stopped to see if there were any cars before crossing on each road even though the reins were on his neck, she wouldn't have been able to do it any other time. Just goes to show how wonderful they are.
 
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